AI Photo Restoration

Cracked Childhood Photos

A cracked childhood photo is a common case: a print that dried out and stiffened before it was bent, or a plate whose coating crazed with age leaves a web of fine dark or light lines across the surface, with flakes lifting where the cracks meet, and childhood photos from the 1940s to 1990s were rarely stored well enough to escape it.

Scratch & Tear Repair is the tool for cracked childhood photos: it targets a web of fine dark or light lines across the surface, with flakes lifting where the cracks meet and leaves the rest of the childhood photo alone. Output follows the shape of the upload, so the toys, the clothing and the expression end up where they always were in the cracked original.

Scan the cracked childhood photo flat, or photograph it and run Photo-of-a-Photo Fixer first, so the cracked emulsion is the only thing left to repair. The childhood photos come back in seconds, and the 4 free credits on sign-up cover the first Standard pass at the cracked emulsion.

Cracked Childhood Photos, the original print
Cracked Childhood Photos
OriginalRestored

Original on the left, restored on the right; hover to see more of the repair. Made in the Studio from a scan of the print.

What matters for these photos

  • A web of fine dark or light lines across the surface, with flakes lifting where the cracks meet, spread over a childhood photo
  • A cracked childhood photo that is the only copy anyone has
  • The toys, the clothing and the expression, hidden under the cracked emulsion
  • Cracked emulsion from a print that dried out and stiffened before it was bent, or a plate whose coating crazed with age, on childhood photos from the 1940s to 1990s

Suggested order of passes

  1. 01

    Remove the cracked emulsion

    Scratch & Tear Repair targets a web of fine dark or light lines across the surface, with flakes lifting where the cracks meet while keeping the toys, the clothing and the expression in the childhood photo untouched.

    Scratch & Tear Repair
  2. 02

    Repair the rest of the childhood photo

    Photo Restoration addresses the usual wear on childhood photos, square prints with rounded corners gone orange, a bent corner and a thumbprint over a face, once the cracked emulsion is gone.

    Photo Restoration
  3. 03

    Upscale the childhood photo for reprinting

    Adds the pixels a wall print needs after the cracked emulsion repair, with the shape of the cracked childhood photos unchanged.

    Image Upscaler

Questions